Companion to Not Alone, but will make sense without it. On their way to Cardiff, the Doctor, Rose, and Jonathan find someone unexpected in their TARDIS. Spoilers for the Children In Need Special "Time Crash".

Author's
Note:This story follows directly after Not Alone, but you can
probably read it on it's own. Here's a quick sum up: The Doctor
found Rose in Pete's Universe after she had been there for eight
years, and was able to bring her back to his, but the TARDIS was
pretty badly damaged in the crossing. Jonathan is their eight year
old son, who is basically a mini-Doctor. If you want to know any more
details about Jonathan, I suggest you read Not Alone.

Most of the
dialogue is taken from the Children in Need Special Time Crash,
which I found to be hysterically funny. I just added Rose and
Jonathan into the mix, baked at 365 degrees for a hour, and this is
what resulted.

"How long will we be
in Cardiff?" Rose asked, shifting around in her seat until
Jonathan's head was in a more comfortable position on her lap. Her
fingers gently stroked his hair, smoothing it down from its usual
peaks.

The Doctor turned from
the main console of the TARDIS and smiled down at her.

"A day or two. I
want to make sure the TARDIS gets a good long refill. That hole in
the universes gave her quite a beating. I'm going to put down the
shields so I can repair a few circuits, and then we can stop by to
refuel."

Rose nodded.

"What are we going
to do in Cardiff for all that time? I would rather not pull Jonathan
into any trouble if at all possible." She reconsidered that
statement for a moment, her head cocked to one side.

"Not right away,
anyways," she amended.

"Not everywhere I
take you ends up in trouble!" the Doctor protested, but he smiled
as he said it. "Besides, there's an old friend I want to drop in
on while we are there."

Rose opened her mouth
to reply, but before she could, lights started flashing, and a
warning bell went off. Jonathan awoke with a start.

He sat up and rubbed
his eyes sleepily.

As
soon as his head was off her lap, Rose leapt up to see if she could
help.

Smoke began to pour
from the top of the console, and the whole floor shook. Rose clung on
for dear life, hoping she wouldn't fall over. Nothing ever changed
on the TARDIS, she though warily.

The shaking stopped
abruptly.

"What was all that
about, eh?" the Doctor asked, gently stroking a piece of the TARDIS
console. "What's your problem now?" He moved around the side of
the console, pressing buttons as he went.

Rose looked over the
screen carefully, but could find nothing. Absently, she too moved
around the console, checking screens. She didn't realize until too
late that there were another pair of hands on the keyboard. She
bumped into another figure moving around the console.

"Sorry, Doctor,"
she said absently, and then stopped. She stared at the person in
front of her in amazement.

He was not as tall as
the Doctor, and dressed in a tan cricket outfit with red lining. He
wore a hat of the same tan colour with a red stripe around the brim.
On his lapel was pinned, inexplicably, a stick of celery.

The Doctor raced
around the other side and skidded to a halt beside Rose. His eyes
were as big as dinner plates and his face was all shock.

"What?" he
demanded.

"What?!" the other
man asked.

"What?!?" Rose
chimed in.

For a second, everyone
was silent, staring at each other in total surprise. Rose was the
first one to recover herself.

"Is that who I think
it is?" she asked cautiously.

"Who are you?" the
man in the cricket outfit said.

"Oh Brilliant!"
the Doctor exclaimed. "Totally wrong, of course, but still.
Impossible things seem to be my trade. Happen to me all the time,
especially lately. Not that I'm complaining. Still, big emergency,
universe goes bang in about five minutes, but totally brilliant!"
He broke out in a huge, excited smile.

"Doctor, what's
going on?" Rose asked, turning towards him.

"I'm the
Doctor," said the man in the cricket outfit, "Who are you?"

"Yes you are," the
Doctor replied, his grin growing, "You are the Doctor!"

"Do you know this
person?" Rose asked again.

"Yes, I am the
Doctor"

"Oh, good for you,
Doctor! Good for Brilliant old you"

Rose stared at the
Doctor. She had never seen him like this, especially when the TARDIS
looked to be in trouble.

"Is
there something wrong with you, young lady?" the strange man in
the cricket outfit asked, glaring at Rose.

"Oooo,
there it goes, the frowny face!" the Doctor interrupted, grinning
again. He grabbed the man's cheeks and pinched them. "I remember
that one. Mind you, a bit saggier than it ought to be, hair's a bit
grayer. That's cos of me, though. The two of us together has
shorted out the time differential. Should all snap back in place when
we get you home. You'll be able to close that coat again. Never
mind that! Look at you, the hat, the coat, the crickety- cricket
stuff, the stick of celery…. It's a brave choice, celery. But to
be fair to you, not a lot of men can carry off a decorative
vegetable."

"Is
that who I think it is?" Rose repeated, a grin already beginning to
come over her face at the realization.

"Yup!"
said the Doctor. "He's Five, I'm Ten."

"I
can't believe this is happening!" Rose said, barely able to
contain her laughter. This was the Doctor, five regenerations ago. "I
can't believe it. You look like a mad footballer who fell into the
grocery aisle in the supermarket!"

"Oy!"
the Tenth Doctor complained.

"Shut
up!" the Fifth Doctor snapped, whipping his hat off and putting it
on the console. "There is something very wrong with my TARDIS, and
I've got to do something about it very, very quickly. And it would
help, it really would help if there wasn't some skinny idiot and a
crazy girl ranting in my face about every single thing that happens
to be in front of them!"

"Oh, ok, sorry.
Doctor," Rose said, emphasizing the last word.

"Thank you,"
he turned again to face the console, frantically pushing buttons with
a familiar randomness.

"Oh, the back of
our head!" the Tenth Doctor exclaimed, as soon as he caught sight
of it. Rose shot him an incredulous look. She had almost forgotten
how rude he was in this regeneration.

"What?!"
the Fifth Doctor whipped around to glare once again at his tenth
regeneration. They stood almost nose to nose.

The
Tenth Doctor didn't seem at all sorry that he had broken his
previous incarnation's concentration.

"Sorry,
sorry," he apologized insincerely. "It's not something you see
every day, is it? Back of your own head. Mind you, I can see why you
wear a hat. I don't mean to seem vain, but could you keep that on?"

Ignoring the previous
remark, the Fifth Doctor took a moment to look around himself.

"What
have you done to my TARDIS? You've changed the desktop theme
haven't you?" he demanded. "What's this one, coral?
It's worse than the leopard skin."

Rose,
who had been listening to the conversation with increasing amusement,
choked in her attempt to stifle her laughter.

"Leopard?"
she mouthed to the Tenth Doctor.

"What
can I say? I have a weakness for the eighties?" The Tenth Doctor
said with a shrug.

"Yeah,
I can see that," Rose remarked with a cheeky grin.

The
Tenth Doctor laughed, and pulled her close to him, kissing the top
her of head affectionately.

The
Fifth Doctor gave a growl of frustration and pulled out a pair of
glasses, which he shoved onto his nose.

The
Tenth Doctor broke away from Rose excitedly.

"Oh!!
Now they come, the brainy specs! You don't even need them. You just
think they make you look a bit clever!"

Rose almost doubled up
with laughter. She had always wondered about the Doctor's glasses.
He didn't seem to have needed them in his previous black leather-
wearing incarnation, but he used them all the time in this one.

An
alarm sounded, and she straightened up, the situation turning
serious. Uneasily, she looked around for Jonathan, who was being
unnervingly quiet. Her son was sitting in the captain seat, his head
cocked to one side as if he was thinking very seriously about
something, his gaze fixed on the Fifth Doctor.

"That's an alert.
Level five, indicating a total collision. It's like two TARDISes
have merged, but there's definitely only one TARDIS." The Fifth
Doctor said, his fingers flying over the console.

"Imagine that,"
Rose said, raising her eyebrow.

"Please keep your
sarcastic comments to yourself, young lady. I am trying to prevent an
utter disaster from occurring. It's like there are two time zones
at war in the heart of the TARDIS. That's a paradox. Could blow a
hole in the space/time continuum the size of… "

Rose tipped the screen
towards the Fifth Doctor, showing him what the glowing Gallifreyan
letters said.

"Well, actually, the
exact size of Belgium. That's a bit dramatic, isn't it? Belgium?"
in spite of the urgency of the situation, Rose smiled. In some
things, the Doctor never changed.

The Tenth Doctor took
out the sonic screwdriver from the inner pocket of his jacket.

"Need this?" he offered.

"Nah, I'm fine."
The Fifth Doctor hardly looked up from his calculations.

"Oh no, of course.
You mostly went hands free didn't you? Like 'hey, I'm the
Doctor, I can save the universe using a kettle and some string, and
look at me I am wearing a vegetable.'" said the Tenth Doctor, a
slight tone of mocking in his voice.

Rose couldn't
imagine the Doctor without his sonic screwdriver. But then, this
Doctor was still very different from hers.

The Fifth Doctor came
around to face the Tenth, scrutinizing him intensely.

The
Tenth Doctor nodded his head modestly, a cocky smile flitting over
his face to indicate that he did think he was really sort of
marvelous.

"So naturally now
and then people notice me." The Fifth Doctor continued. "Start
up their little groups- that LINDA lot. Are you one of them?" he
peered at the Tenth Doctor suspiciously.

The Tenth Doctor
looked annoyed, but didn't have time to answer, as the Fifth Doctor
cut him off.

"How did you get in
here? Can't have you lot knowing where I live."

Rose
stood still, savoring the moment when the Doctor was made speechless
by himself. The only other person who could keep up with one of his
arguments, she thought to herself with a grin.

"Listen
to me, I'm you." The Tenth Doctor was saying, still trying to
convince his other self of the truth. "I'm you with a new face.
Check out this bone structure, Doctor, cos one day you're going to
be shaving it."

Deep in the TARDIS, a
deep gong-like sound echoed.

"The cloister bell!"
gasped the Fifth Doctor. "In a few minutes we're going to be in a
black hole strong enough to swallow the entire universe!"

"Yeah, that's my
fault actually," said the Tenth Doctor, rubbing the back of his
head guiltily. "I was repairing the TARDIS and forgot to put the
shields back up. Your TARDIS and my TARDIS – well, the same TARDIS
– crashed into its own time stream and collided. Oops, there you
go. End of the universe, butterfingers."

Jonathan, who had been
sitting quiet all this time, had sat up suddenly at the sound of the
cloister bell. Now, he ran over to the console and began to turn
leavers and switches.

"Jonathan, what're
you doing!?" the Tenth Doctor yelled.

"Don't
worry, Dad. I know exactly how this all works out. Watch."

He
had that determined look on his small face, like he did right before
he did something brilliant, and Rose knew better than to interfere,
even though the eight-year-old was playing with some very delicate
alien technology.

"I remembered what
to do. A few weeks ago, before Dad came, someone who looked just like
this guy," he pointed to the Fifth Doctor, "showed up at my
school and told me what to do. He said I would need it when the
cloister bell went off, so I knew when I saw him that I should be
listening for it. So when it went off, I did it."

"How many times have
I told you not to talk to strangers," Rose admonished, but she gave
Jonathan a hug. She was so proud of him.

"So, you remembered,
because I'm going to go and tell you?" the Fifth Doctor asked.

The Tenth Doctor had a
giant smile on his face.

"Wibbly-wobbly…"
he started.

"Timely-
wimey!" Both Doctors finished off together.

The Tenth Doctor held
his hand up for a high five. The Fifth Doctor looked confused, but
Jonathan, seeing his opportunity, jumped up and hit the larger hand.

The Doctor caught
Jonathan up around the middle and swung him around, making the boy
laugh delightedly.

"So, who are these
people again?" the Fifth Doctor asked, "I didn't think I'd
live to see the day that I go all domestic and bring a child with me.
It's really not safe you know, considering the amount of trouble I
seem to constantly be getting myself in. Unless you're different?"

The Tenth Doctor put
Jonathan down and scratched the back of his head guiltily.

"No, no different.
Still get into lots of trouble. I didn't think I'd go domestic
either. But this kid," here he ruffled Jonathan's hair, "happens
to be mine, so I couldn't very well leave him behind, now could I?"

"Yours?" the Fifth
Doctor asked his eyes wide. "What do you mean yours?"

"Best not to tell
him too much about his present, Doctor." Rose said, cutting the
Tenth Doctor off just as his mouth opened to speak. He shut his mouth
with a snap. Coming up beside her, he put his arm around her
shoulders. She leaned in closer, enjoying the feeling of being in his
arms, as novel as it still was.

"Oh," said the
Fifth Doctor. "I see. What is your name, young lady?"

"Rose," she said.

"Well, Rose, I am
very glad to meet you, and I will be sure to look out for you in
times to come, because I see that you will become very important to
me when I am him." He jerked his thumb towards the Tenth Doctor.

The Tenth Doctor
caught sight of a tan hat with a red band around it still sitting on
the console, he pushed a couple of buttons, and the Fifth Doctor
appeared again. The Tenth Doctor handed him his hat.

"You know," he
said, contemplatively, "I loved being you. Back when I first
started at the very beginning, I was always trying to be old and
grumpy and important, like you do when you're young. And then I was
you. And I was all dashing about and playing cricket and my voice
going all squeaky when I shouted. I still do that - the voice thing.
I got that from you."

The Fifth Doctor put
his tan hat back on.

"Oh, and the
trainers"

The Tenth Doctor swung
his leg up onto the consol to show off his bright red Chucks.

"And," he whipped
out his glasses, his brainy specs and shoved them onto his
nose.

"Snap!" he exclaimed, "Cos you know what, Doctor? You were my
Doctor. And Rose?" Rose moved into his arms once again. "She's
the light of my life. I spent my whole life up to her wandering
around from companion to companion, not quite knowing what I was
doing. And then there was her, and she was so amazing. And she blazed
like the sun, like some time goddess, and she was radiant. And then I
spent a whole year without her and something inside me died. So I
guess what I'm trying to say is… when she says no, don't take
her first answer."

"I never ask again,"
said the Fifth Doctor, frowning.

"I know. But this
time, do it. You will not regret it. I never have. She gave me
everything, and then she gave me Jonathan. It will be worth it."

The Fifth Doctor
smiled and nodded, and then tipped his hat.

"To days to come,"
he said.

"All my love to long
ago,"

The Fifth Doctor
totally faded out, but not before a voice drifted around the control
room.